The best thing about being rich.

"Hey, tell me, what d'you think the best thing is about being rich?" 

"Beats me." 

"Being able to say you don't have any money. Like, if I suggested to a classmate we do something, she could say, 'Sorry, I don't have any money.' Which is something I could never say if the situation was reversed. If I said 'I don't have any money,' it would really mean 'I don't have any money.' It's sad. Like if a pretty girl says 'I look terrible today, I don't want to go out,' that's O.K., but if an ugly girl says the same thing people laugh at her. That's what the world was like for me. For six years, until last year." 

"You'll get over it." 

"I hope so. College is such a relief! It's full of ordinary people!" 

—Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood (1987, trans. J. Rubin 2000)